Stephen King's Dark Tower Comics - interview with Robin Furth

**bstie1198** · 03-01-2006, 10:33 AM

I was lurking on thedarktower.net and noticed someone posted a link to an interview with Robin Furth about her Dark Tower Concordances and her involvement in the Dark Tower comics. There are some interesting tidbits in there about the comics. Most interesting to me are that the first seven issue arc is essentially a retelling of Wizard and Glass, there will be 30 issues in all, and that future arcs will cover the time period between Roland leaving Hambry and the fall of Gilead. It doesn't sound like there will be much direct involvement from Stephen King unless he ends up scripting them...

Link to the interview...

**nihilance** · 03-01-2006, 10:35 AM

So the big teaser image should have said "FURTH" with a crown then?

**SteveZegers** · 03-01-2006, 10:37 AM

I talked with Jae Lee about it quite a bit. Some interesting stuff... very interesting stuff.

**bstie1198** · 03-01-2006, 10:40 AM

Originally Posted by amy.racecar

So the big teaser image should have said "FURTH" with a crown then?

It's sounding more and more like that. I've read the concordances. They were pretty good, and I know she's working with Stephen to get the main plot points, but it sounds a lot like it's mostly Robin doing all the plotting and breakdown, then getting a final ok from Stephen. These are looking more an more like licensed properties instead of Stephen King doing more Dark Tower stories. I really hope he finds the time to script them. That'd make it seem more like they're really his stories.

**Joe Henderson** · 03-01-2006, 10:44 AM

30 issues total, the first 7 being a retelling of Wizard and Glass. I was hoping for an original tale first, but hey, still could be cool...

**Tim Simmons** · 03-01-2006, 11:22 AM

Originally Posted by hayeshenderson

30 issues total, the first 7 being a retelling of Wizard and Glass. I was hoping for an original tale first, but hey, still could be cool...

I was hoping the same- but, you gotta figure they need to do the "origin" story for the new readers.

**bstie1198** · 03-01-2006, 12:14 PM

Originally Posted by citizentim

I was hoping the same- but, you gotta figure they need to do the "origin" story for the new readers.

I see that point, but I think they should have had the first issue be an origin (or even better, just include a prose recap page or short section at the beginning) and then get on with the new stuff. The biggest potential this project has is getting people who love Dark Tower and have never read a comic to try them out and see what they have to offer. You're starting out on the wrong foot if you spend the first seven issues telling a story that they've already read. I think that the target audience should be DT fans discovering comics, not comic fans discovering DT. And if you just open up with Roland and his friends on a new adventure, is it really going to be that hard for new readers to pick up who these people are and what they represent?

**nihilance** · 03-01-2006, 12:16 PM

Originally Posted by bstie1198

I see that point, but I think they should have had the first issue be an origin (or even better, just include a prose recap page or short section at the beginning) and then get on with the new stuff. The biggest potential this project has is getting people who love Dark Tower and have never read a comic to try them out and see what they have to offer. You're starting out on the wrong foot if you spend the first seven issues telling a story that they've already read. I think that the target audience should be DT fans discovering comics, not comic fans discovering DT. And if you just open up with Roland and his friends on a new adventure, is it really going to be that hard for new readers to pick up who these people are and what they represent?

Well I think the "wrong foot" they are starting on is not having King actually have much of anything to do with the book it seems. Any potential non-comic readers decreased 1000 fold once he decided not to write it himself.

**bstie1198** · 03-01-2006, 12:19 PM

Originally Posted by amy.racecar

Well I think the "wrong foot" they are starting on is not having King actually have much of anything to do with the book it seems. Any potential non-comic readers decreased 1000 fold once he decided not to write it himself.

Touche!

**Constant Reader** · 03-01-2006, 12:19 PM

Originally Posted by amy.racecar

Well I think the "wrong foot" they are starting on is not having King actually have much of anything to do with the book it seems. Any potential non-comic readers decreased 1000 fold once he decided not to write it himself.

I don't know...the really rabid DARK TOWER fans are going to recognize Robin Furth's name and contribution to the novel series and be comfortable with it, I think. As for attracting the more "mainstream" Stephen King fan, I don't know that this was going to do it anyway - King himself has said that this series never seemed to catch on with the mainstream the way his other stuff did.

CR